CHUDNOV

CHUDNOV, Zhitomir district, Ukraine. Jews settled there at the end of the 16th century. During the chmielnicki uprisings (1648–49) they fled to the fortresses of Ostrog, Polonnoye, and Zaslav but were killed there. Many were massacred by the haidamacks in 1756. The community, which numbered 1,283 in 1765, increased to 2,623 in 1847 and 4,491 in 1897 (out of a total population of 5,580). They were mostly engaged in small trade and crafts. Between 1906 and 1914 many Jews emigrated from Chudnov to the United States. In 1910 a talmud torah and three private schools were in operation. In 1905, 12 self-defense members trying to helping the Jews of Zhitomir were killed en route. The Jewish population numbered 4,067 in 1926 (51.7% of the total), dropping to 2,506 in 1939. During the 1920s half the local Jews were unemployed. A primary school operated there. Chudnov was taken by the Germans on July 7, 1941. An open ghetto was established and Jews were sent to forced labor camps. In August, 68 Jews were murdered, and later the rabbi. On September 8, 1,500 Jews were executed in a park with the help of local Ukrainians. Artisans needed for work were spared but killed later on. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Yalkut Volhin, 7–8 (1947), index; Yevrei v Rossii (19294), 49–52. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: PK Ukrainah, S.V. (Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)